The trouble with pets
I've just finished reading Marley & Me and I think John Grogan is one animated writer. Besides causing me to almost laugh out loud (literally LOL) several times on the train, the ending, when you know what happens, did put some tears in my eyes - and I'm not really your pet person.
I've had pets. My first one was a brown dog named Pat Chong who stayed at my Grandma's house (there is a picture with me as a toddler standing on this stone table pointing to him). I think he was there all the way through my primary school as I remember him running out to greet me each day from under the outside sofa as I returned from school. He was always around, but I didn't pay much attention. Looking back, it was fun to have this dog, but I never took him for a walk or played much with him. I hope my grandma did as he was a good dog. The amazing thing about my grandma is that she was both a dog and cat person, a true animal-lover. I bet she loved other kinds as well.
I, on the other hand, am actually more of a cat person. There were a couple of cats here and there. Pinky and Ponky spring (literally, if you've seen how a young kitten sometimes behaves) to mind. Fred and I owned one each, thanks again to granny. Mine was Pinky, although he wasn't quite pink - Ponky was the naughty one that went around scratching people's legs before scampering off into hiding. Pinky died first - we found him in the drain and I think he was hit by a car. Ponky left us soon after, probably of a broken-heart. He was never the same after his brother passed on.
Hamsters were also popular at one point in my childhood, and also early adulthood, the most recent being a married couple called Tammy and Jack which Celest and I co-owned. They had this aweful habit of having lots and lots of kids and then eating them all up within the next day, a major homicidal offence for humans but apparently completely natural for these furry rodents. We grew to love the pair and rooted for the babies when they were born. We sold some back to the pet-store but most of the rest never made it past a few days.
Tammy died in my hands and I felt her take her last breadth. Celest took urgent leave that day to stay home with the sick animal - I remember even bringing her to the vet to get her looked at. The other dog owners were staring at us like "are you kidding?". We both cried and it was very emotional. She was placed in a toothpaste box and buried in the flower bed.
The trouble with pets is that they leave us too soon. I, for one, can't take the emotional stress and would rather, shallow as it seems, not have a pet. But the saying goes that "it's better to have love and lost it than to never have loved before" although I think it wasn't meant for animals.
One day when the kids are older, we'll consider getting a pet or two. It'll teach them responsibility and love, and also eventually dealing with the loss of love.
I've had pets. My first one was a brown dog named Pat Chong who stayed at my Grandma's house (there is a picture with me as a toddler standing on this stone table pointing to him). I think he was there all the way through my primary school as I remember him running out to greet me each day from under the outside sofa as I returned from school. He was always around, but I didn't pay much attention. Looking back, it was fun to have this dog, but I never took him for a walk or played much with him. I hope my grandma did as he was a good dog. The amazing thing about my grandma is that she was both a dog and cat person, a true animal-lover. I bet she loved other kinds as well.
I, on the other hand, am actually more of a cat person. There were a couple of cats here and there. Pinky and Ponky spring (literally, if you've seen how a young kitten sometimes behaves) to mind. Fred and I owned one each, thanks again to granny. Mine was Pinky, although he wasn't quite pink - Ponky was the naughty one that went around scratching people's legs before scampering off into hiding. Pinky died first - we found him in the drain and I think he was hit by a car. Ponky left us soon after, probably of a broken-heart. He was never the same after his brother passed on.
Hamsters were also popular at one point in my childhood, and also early adulthood, the most recent being a married couple called Tammy and Jack which Celest and I co-owned. They had this aweful habit of having lots and lots of kids and then eating them all up within the next day, a major homicidal offence for humans but apparently completely natural for these furry rodents. We grew to love the pair and rooted for the babies when they were born. We sold some back to the pet-store but most of the rest never made it past a few days.
Tammy died in my hands and I felt her take her last breadth. Celest took urgent leave that day to stay home with the sick animal - I remember even bringing her to the vet to get her looked at. The other dog owners were staring at us like "are you kidding?". We both cried and it was very emotional. She was placed in a toothpaste box and buried in the flower bed.
The trouble with pets is that they leave us too soon. I, for one, can't take the emotional stress and would rather, shallow as it seems, not have a pet. But the saying goes that "it's better to have love and lost it than to never have loved before" although I think it wasn't meant for animals.
One day when the kids are older, we'll consider getting a pet or two. It'll teach them responsibility and love, and also eventually dealing with the loss of love.